May 28, 2024 — OWOX BI BigQuery Reports Extension. Get a Subset of Data Using New Filters and Limit Features Without Changing the SQL Code

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Today, we are excited to announce the new Filters and Limit features in our BigQuery Reports extension. These features allow you to load only the necessary data into your Sheets from BigQuery, avoiding the overload of unnecessary data. We know that some of our users periodically encounter the Google Sheets limit of 10 million cells, so our filters and limits will help avoid such situations in the future.

Empowering Non-SQL Users with Enhanced Data Access

This update will also benefit users who do not know SQL and cannot modify Query code. Filters are easily added through the extension interface, which will feel familiar to all Google Sheets users. These new features open up more possibilities for working with BigQuery data, especially for those who previously did not have access to these capabilities.

Imagine that data analysts can now prepare a comprehensive SQL Query that provides a wide dataset from BigQuery. Meanwhile, their colleagues without SQL knowledge, such as managers, can create dozens of reports in Sheets by simply specifying the Query and adding the necessary filters and limits through the interface, without having to wait for a data analyst to load specific data.

Usage Scenarios

Example 1: A sales lead wants to review the pages visited by qualified leads before filling out a form. An analyst has prepared the Query, but loading all the data into Google Sheets is not feasible. They need the ability to select data for individual users, which is easy to accomplish with Filters in the extension.

Example 2: A category manager wants to analyze the popularity of specific products in the list. It is necessary to explore them from different perspectives: ordered versus sold, most popular this month, most popular last month, etc. For this, they can create reports on separate sheets based on slightly different configurations of columns within the same Query and apply Filters by fields.

 

How it works

Let’s take a closer look at how this works from the perspective of a 'Customer' of the report—usually a manager or another colleague who lacks access to BigQuery and does not modify the SQL code.

Step 1. Create new Sheets and open OWOX BI BigQuery Reports extension.

Step 2. Select the BigQuery project and Query that your colleague (e.g. data analyst) has granted access to, following these instructions.

Step 3. Load a minimal portion of data into the Sheet by running the first execution with a limit of, for example, 10 rows. This step is necessary for the extension to obtain the schema of the data returned by the Query execution in BigQuery. After this, you can start adding filters.

Step 4. Add the necessary filters, remove the row limit, and run the Query again.

You're all done! Your subset of data is now loaded into the document, and you can build your report on this data.

 

For more details on the new functionality, please visit our "Filters and Limit" page in the Help Center. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at bi@owox.com, and we will be happy to assist you.

 

Happy reporting, and thank you for choosing OWOX BI.

 

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